Friday, March 19, 2010

Concierge Cardiology

Starting April 1, patients at Pacific Heart Institute can choose one of four plans for care. In the first option, they pay no "participation fee." In the next, called "Select," they pay $500 a year for priority appointments, warfarin adjustments, defibrillator and pacemaker follow-up, notification of non-urgent lab, and test results, according to Pacific Heart Institute.

In the third, called "Premier," they pay $1,800, for everything in "Select," plus e-mail communication with their doctor, same-day visits during regular office hours, priority lab testing and scheduling of diagnostics, free attendance at speaker seminars on cardiovascular issues, and a dedicated phone line to reach an institute nurse.

In the fourth, "Concierge," they pay $7,500 for everything in "Premier," plus direct 24-hour access to a cardiologist via pager, e-mail, text message, plus the patient's PHI cardiologist's personal cell phone, annual personalized cardiovascular wellness screening, night and weekend access to a PHI cardiologist for hospital or emergency services, (regardless of whether he or she is on call) same-day visits with the cardiologist, evening and weekend office appointments and personal calls from the cardiologist.

Dr Wes, can you explain how this house vote and recon is going to affect doctors? I note that in a MSNBC article they say they'll increase primary care reimbursments for MediCAl to that of Medicare in 2013,so are they leaving specialists, proceduralists out of this deal? where would the Primary refer the patient if specialits don't take the MediCAL? Would this reform have impact on doctors pay? Insur, Drug companies, Hospitals all seem Ok with it's passage.

Hmm; $7500 a year to be at someone's beck and call, 24/7/365 with no call coverage/vacation exceptions? Isn't that something like Eliot Spitzer's arrangement? Far more lucrative, though.

What happens if you're on the phone with one Concierge customer (sorry; you're no longer talking about a "patient", if defined as someone who needs medical care instead of just someone who wants it) and another one calls?

About Me

Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC is a board certified internist, cardiologist, and cardiac electrophysiologist (doctor specializing in heart rhythm disorders) practicing at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, IL, USA and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. He entered the blog-o-sphere in November, 2005.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this blog are strictly the those of the author(s) and should not be construed as the opinion(s) or policy(ies) of NorthShore University HealthSystem, nor recommendations for your care or anyone else's. Please seek professional guidance instead.